Earlier this week, we posted a story about a restaurant customer who not only chose to deny the waitress a tip, but also wrote “I Give God 10% Why do you Get 18?” on the receipt. Now we’ve learned that the server who posted the receipt online has been fired. [More]
tipping
Diner Thinks That Saying He’s A Pastor Allows Him To Stiff Waiter On Tip
By 1.29.13 — Updated: 1.31.13
Do You Still Tip Your Cab Driver When He Gets Lost?
By 1.18.13
If your waiter accidentally brings you someone else’s food, you’re probably still going to tip him, provided that he takes it back and eventually gives you the correct dish. But when your cabbie gets lost, that meter can keep running while he tries to correct his course. So does he get a tip? [More]
Pizza Deliverer: If You Live In A $650K House And Don’t Tip, There’s Something Wrong With You
By 12.4.12
Tipping waiters at a restaurant is relatively easy — so long as you know how to calculate the standard 15-20% — but tipping for delivery is always a topic of much debate, as there are factors involved like the cost of the meal, the weather, how long you had to wait, and how much was being carried. [More]
Is It Ever Acceptable For Waiters To Be Unpleasant?
By 11.13.12
The “snooty waiter” who looks down his nose with disdain at his customers is a character that has been trotted out on film and TV too many times to count. But while we may not blink when we see this well-known caricature on screen, it’s a different story when that same snob is taking your lunch order. [More]
TGI Friday’s Has A Very High Opinion Of Their Waitstaff
By 10.29.12
Mike has no complaints about his recent visit to TGI Friday’s. Really, he doesn’t. The only thing that prompted him to write to Consumerist was one little blurb at the bottom of his receipt, which provided handy recommended tips. That’s very useful. If the standard gratuity in the United States is supposed to be 15%, though, why does this scale start at 18%? [More]
Starbucks To Add Tipping Function To Mobile Payment App
By 10.4.12
One of the knocks against Starbucks’ mobile payment app is that it doesn’t have a way for the customer to add a tip if they want to. But the coffee colossus has apparently realized the error of its ways and is working on a way to allow for tipping. [More]
Automatically Adding Gratuity Only To The Bills Of Foreigners Is Pretty Much Discrimination
By 8.23.12
If you’ve ever traveled abroad, surely you’ve been told things like, “You don’t have to tip at restaurants in Europe” or other local customs you can expect to encounter. But servers at restaurants in Burlington, Vt. aren’t so sure an influx of travelers from Quebec are clued in to how tipping works, so some are just adding gratuity automatically to those bills. Awkward. [More]
Chili's Helpfully Suggests 18% Tip On My Tab
By 8.13.12
Bryan went out for a lovely meal at Chili’s, which is not an oxymoron, with his family. When the bill came, he noticed something he hadn’t seen before: a “suggested gratuity” and suggested total line below the actual amount due. He and his family found this just a bit obnoxious, since the restaurant’s suggested tip is 18% rather than the standard starting point of 15% in this country. [More]
Who The &^#* Does This Restaurant Customer Think He Is?
By 7.24.12
There are many ways to encourage, or even demand, quality service while out for a nice meal. Telling your waiter in advance that you’re going to be a dick about the tip is most certainly not a good method for doing so. [More]
Am I Supposed To Tip At An Event With An Open Bar?
By 7.9.12
When most people go to a bar, they take care to tip the bartender and/or the wait staff. But for many people, that courtesy seems to go out the window when someone else is picking up the tab, as guests assume that the tip has also been taken care of (or just don’t think about it at all). But are they making the right assumption? [More]
How Far Would You Go To Tip Your Server?
By 6.29.12
Many, many pixels have been on this site over the subject of tipping in restaurants, but how far out of your way would you go to give a tip? -Joe and his wife had dinner at Red Robin, paid for with a few free entrée coupons and a gift card. Only the gift card receipt didn’t have a line to authorize a tip, and the couple only had a dollar in cash between them. In a culture where we often don’t talk about tips, should they just leave the dollar that they had in their wallets and feel guilty about it, or actually address the problem and talk to the server about it directly? [More]
I Didn't Loudly Announce I Was Tipping, Does That Make Me A Bad Consumer?
By 12.19.11
We’ve all done the Conspicuous Tip — you wait until the barista or employee behind the counter is looking before you stuff the dollar in the tip jar, lest you be thought a non-tipper. But should that apply in a confusing situation involving a hotel shuttle and a cupholder full of bills? Bill found himself wondering if his failure to narrate his act of tipping makes him a bad consumer. [More]
Survey: We Tip The People That Clean Our Houses, But Not The Ones Who Collect Our Garbage
By 12.13.11
For a lot of people in various facets of the service industry, this time of year means that some customers will brighten up your holidays with a gift or a tip to show their appreciation. But new numbers from our surveying siblings at Consumer Reports break down which particular people get the most end-of-year love. [More]
Deciding The Right Amount To Tip
By 11.14.11
Since the beginning of time — or at least the beginning of the movie Reservoir Dogs — people have debated the proper amount to tip. There are no hard and fast rules for how much you need to tip for various services, and it comes down to a matter of personal preferences as they relate to social customs. Few people really like paying more than they need to be, or to be viewed as a cheapskate, so everyone walks a fine line when deciding how much to leave. [More]
Someone At This Dave & Buster's Needs To Learn How To Count
By 10.28.11
Steve has no problem with the mandatory 18% tip included in the bill for parties of eight or larger at Dave & Buster’s. He does, however, have a problem with getting charged 18% for mediocre service for a dinner party of seven, not eight. Maybe most diners are having too much fun to notice that there isn’t an invisible eighth guest at their tables. [More]
"Suggested Gratuity" Calculations Can Incorrectly Include Tax
By 6.21.11
Whether your standard tipping policy is 10%, 15%, or 20%, the calculation is supposed to made on the bill’s subtotal before tax. After all, the taxman didn’t have a pleasant pairing suggestion or crack a wry joke. But at the bottom of some restaurant bills, the “suggested gratuity” included “for your convenience” is sometimes wrong, making the calculation after sales tax is added. Reader Mark spotted two of these recently. [More]
Brooklyn Delivery Guy Calls Out Bad Tippers On His Blog
By 4.30.11
Crappy tippers, beware. The delivery guy or gal who you grossly undertip this weekend might have a Tumblr account. Tired of meager tips from customers who clearly have some cash, one delivery guy in Brooklyn–Williamsburg, to be exact–is striking back by calling out lousy tippers on his blog, and gathering tips from readers. Unlike us, he leaves names, addresses, and locations unredacted. Check it out soon, because it probably won’t stay up for long in its current form. [More]
